The Lodge Mirage.

It is very disheartening when I witness my people trying to claim a false sense of pride in artificial rights or freedoms that only serve as condescending gestures to fill up empty people that have been gutted out by the capitalist market culture. They try to adhere to labels and let those labels consume all their worth, their dignity, their identity, their integrity. We allow ourselves to be subjected to a inadequate standard, and use this standard to justify our fellow Anishinaabeg failures to live up to these absurdities. Individualism has overthrown the tribal mentalities that has weathered our ancestors through the harshest of storms. Now that we have allowed ourselves to be stripped of our survival instincts, we have regressed even further from the valiant, virtuous people we once were. We have given the spirits of our ancestors little to nothing to rejoice in us, how can they even recognize us? Because we today do not resemble anything they were familiar with. We have lost sight of that. And some selfishly misconstrue our teachings into cultural constructivism with backwards ideals that only serves to hamper or prevent us from making the progress our children require. Why do our people try to conform to political ideals that haven't their interests in mind? Why do our people surrender their dignity to ideals that comprise the essence of who we really are? Why do they invest and dedicate themselves to overcomplicated ideals that rarely if never keep them in mind when decisions are made? These overcomplicated ideals are meant to keep us confused and distracted. Are they just trying to play the game? If so, they would have been disqualified for being unprepared before "the game" ever commenced. I am not trying to discourage my people from taking a stance on matters that effect us, only trying to inspire them to innovate and improve their stance against the issues we face together. We have a lot of Anishinaabeg that allow themselves to misrepresent us and re-enforce stereotypes against us. These so called Anishinaabeg are more a threat to us them those utilizing them as tokenism. Once you comprise your dignity in the name of conformity, what use is it to consider yourself Anishinaabe? I don't believe there is a premium established in determining this, but if you knowingly betray the ideals of our ancestors and the reality of our situation today, shouldn't that discount you as someone who is supposedly upholding the honor of our people? A lot of people are only exploiting our teaching to gain status. I have witnessed time and time again undeserving people misuse and abuse our teachings only to elevate their status or credentials. They obviously haven't absorbed these teaching for their true meaning when they walk around constantly disregarding them. Yet holding them over their heads as if their actually going to live up to them one day. And they can, those teachings are within their reach, all they need is the courage to apply them to where they are needed. It's sad to watch others try and market our culture as some sort of commodity to use against others that are too bankrupt to afford these teachings. These teaching are available to us all regardless on how exclusive some try to promote them. All we need is to support and dedicate ourselves to helping others find their way back to these teachings. Some might use our teaching for self promotion, self indigence, but we all have the ability to resist these seductive abominations perverting our teachings amongst these people. These teaching hold all the answers we require, whether they be political, spiritual, emotional or whatever. So don't sell out to the glamorization of the falsehoods these people utilize to misdirect you or take advantage of you through. We are all pitiful people, some more them others. And we mustn't allow ourselves to be utilized as a opportunity for some of these more pitiful people that do hold teachings but misuse or abuse them. This is a way of life, not a religion, so don't feed into others misconceptions or self induced fundamentalism's of our teachings as well. They'll feed you lies or self serving propaganda to mislead you from the true essence of our teachings. The solution is simple, put out your asemaa ask for help and follow your heart. For it will not mislead you from the path on who you must be for the people that desperately need your direction. We must inspire other to find their way back to the true meaning of our teachings to find their own true meaning for themselves. Anyone trying to prevent or take advantage of this is not only doing a disservice to you but also to themselves.Once you let others interfere with your personal relationship with these teaching, we lose sight of who we truly are. Once others start dictating teaching to you they have obviously lost sight of those teachings as well. Not everyone's problems are the same, so be warry of those that insist upon themselves for supposedly knowing the direction others must venture. Yes, some might need help or encouragement of embarking down that path, and there are those who will genuinely put you on your path. But it is those that impose and try to drag you to, or try to force you to see the path as they see it that offer only a test to you and your sense of direction. It is very bothersome when I witness others taking advantage of our people only to foster their own pitiful egos or false sense of worth. Gathering around the abundance vulnerable, broken spirits of our communities and deifying themselves by the misuse of our teachings. These people have earned my contempt regardless of their holier them thou attitude they operate from. I am immune to their falsehoods and to situations to were they might exercise them. I am not fooled or even a bit amused by their charlatanism. And I am helping and encouraging my fellow Anishinaabeg to become resistant of these pitiful people as well. Hopefully we can inspire them to become the Anishinaabe that they actually believe themselves to be. Or at least deter them from their bad habit of trying to take advantage of people or situations by purposely misinterpreting or misconstruing our teachings for their selfish benefit. The authentic Anishinaabeg are out there, we will all encounter false one's just to be shown how not to conduct ourselves. But be thankful for them as well, for they are serving their purpose as well if they like it or not.

Revolution born of fire.

There has to come a time in everyone's life when they realize they have been either lied to or come to terms their living a self induced lie. Some might resent this moment of clarity and reject it only to spiral further into fear and ignorance, jealousy or envy. Once your morally bankrupt, whats the use of trying to recuperate from a default on your integrity and dignity? The truth is restricted, diluted, tailor made, compromised, and altered. The truth today is a recipe for destruction. Destruction of the broken order subconsciously pandering to your fears, your desires, your greed, your unwarranted ego. In this world where the media controls the truth though the process of exploiting vulnerable minds that have all flocked to the television screen to help them cope with their insecurities, its frustrating to witness those you care for fall casualty to ignorance. Most times its hard to work within the experiences of the people when they have restricted, and have found reasons or inane justifications to shelter themselves from whats out their waiting for them, wanting to devour their inept, naive, scared little souls. Knowledge is power, and its sad to say some don't want us to empower ourselves so that those they prey on then reject and refuse to rely in these peoples misinformation that has conjured up our dependency in their charlatanism. So that is why I am very grateful for those that have inspired me to embrace truth and use it to cast out the darkness consuming my people. I to now carry this torch, and I will light the fire my people need to warm themselves by in this cold world of lies and propaganda laying waste to them. Embers in the ashes, that is what we are today. It's time to refuel this fire with hope and fan these embers to get this fire blazing once again. It's time to douse yourselves in truths and set yourselves ablaze, run into the crowd of those adorned in their combustible garments of lies. This fire will consume any and all who are fortunate enough to be caught in its path, because it is we who are the eighth fire.